| In the Meditations sur le mystere de la Sainte Trinite pour orgue (1969) Messiaen added a new technique to his compositional palette. The 'langage communicable' is comprised of three elements: a musical alphabet, a simple grammar, and a series of leitmotifs, which are used to transliterate texts into music. This dissertation has four specific aims: first, to contribute to the ongoing discussion of the relationship between music and language; second, to place the 'langage' in historical context, to place it in the context of Messiaen's oeuvre; third, to subject it to a thorough analysis using techniques from linguistics; and fourth, to attempt to answer the question why Messiaen devised the 'langage' and to suggest ways it may be understood.;Chapter one provides relevant background about Messiaen, including a discussion of other significant innovations by the composer, and an appraisal of his work as a poet. The second chapter traces the history of musical cryptography, noting in particular twentieth-century French developments, and the work of Francois-Bernard Mache, whose experiments from the 1950s to the 1980s went well beyond Messiaen's linguistic experiments. The third and fourth chapters are devoted to detailed analysis of the 'langage' using a variety of techniques and methodologies from the fields of linguistics and cognition studies. Chapter three concentrates on technical analysis of the structure of the 'langage', whereas chapter four deals with issues of cognition, including acquisition, perception and retention. Chapter five examines the three pieces by Messiaen which include the 'langage'. For each piece the 'langage' is contextualized as part of a broader semiotic system. The final chapter, chapter six, discusses the problems associated with meaning in music, and how they relate to the 'langage'. It includes a discussion of the concept of a universal musical language and considers the notion of a type of communication in the arts which bypasses verbal encryption. |
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